‘DWTS’ Winner Admits to ‘Cheating’ to Win Dance Competition Series

Bobby Bones may have just made his Season 27 Dancing With the Stars win a bit more controversial.

The radio star admitted on Monday’s episode of Jason Tartick’s Trading Secrets podcast that he “cheated” in order to secure the Mirrorball Trophy with pro partner Sharna Burgess.

“I cheated in the way of, they give you a limited amount of time with your partner, like four hours a day, they say. So, we would do our full work. I would record the session and then go by myself and rent a studio myself and train myself to, illegally, like spent time over.”

This may not exactly be news to fans, who may remember Bones saying during his 2018 run on the show that he squeezed in extra rehearsal time into his already busy schedule.

“I was still doing the radio show every day, waking up at 3 a.m. in LA and touring, doing standup on the weekends,” he explained. “And so, it was the hardest part of my life, as far as how difficult it was to just eat, stay hydrated, and work, and think in a normal manner.”

“I started to dance, and I wasn’t in any way polarizing on the show other than I sucked. Because I didn’t run out and like, ‘I’m the best.’ I tried as hard as I could. And I got sevens, a couple of sixes, a couple of eights.”

Bones’ run on the show became polarizing the further he continued advancing in the competition — despite earning lower scores than those eliminated. He maintains that he was “very transparent” on the show about his dance ability, calling himself “very vulnerable.”

“And the fact that I was winning made it difficult on people who had always watched the show,” he continued on Monday.

Bones said that producers told him after the season ended that he had the “highest separation ever in the history of that show of votes.”

“[There’s] a very non-vocal majority. Normal people don’t complain on Instagram. I think the quote from one of the executives was, ‘I could have peed on stage in my final dance and won.’ But they never told me that.”

Bones’ win was so controversial that the show actually made changes to the voting system to help balance judges’ scores with fan votes, and even introduced the Judges’ Save for Season 28, allowing the judges to save a pair from elimination.

“They didn’t ever want me to happen again, because I was kicking good people off. It wasn’t that I was winning,” Bones said of the voting changes. “The hardcore fans of that show are very mean.”

Although Bones is not competing on the upcoming 34th season of DWTS, fans may catch a glimpse of him in the ballroom during live episodes, as many alums choose to come back and visit from time to time.

Dancing With the Stars Season 34 premieres Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.